History of Dogwood Ranch

We pieced together the history of Dogwood Ranch through word of mouth, evidence on the property, from the sellers and from public records. The initial purchase was a 10-acre tract that is a long 2x5 rectangle shape. The prior owners used the property for weekend recreational activities. They were an elderly couple who clearly entertained children and grandchildren on the place. They didn’t have a house but a mobile home and were set up for long stents at the property. For now, let’s just call them the “Smiths”.

Mr. Smith was apparently a handy man and had a full set of tools in the garage and several projects in progress all the time. He kept the front two or three acres nicely mowed, built fish cleaning stations around the trees by the pond, built a deck and kept chopped firewood handy. A picnic table, lawn chairs and a fire pit encircled with stone blocks by the pond clearly served as a focus of activity for the Smith family, as this area does for us today. Three years prior to our purchase, Mr. Smith unexpectedly passed away and Ms. Smith became infirm. We were told she suffered a mild stroke soon after her husband’s death. By the time we bought the place, the property had not been cared for since Mr. Smith died. In those three years the grass was overgrown to hip-high and the chairs, picnic table and other things left out in the elements were ruined, rusted and rotten. Wildlife moved into the mobile home, including squirrels and a family of raccoons that made a cozy nest in the fluffy armchair.

Ms. Smith sold the property “as is” including the old mobile home and all contents inside, weathered items around the pond and all of the tools in the garage. It appeared to us that the last project Mr. Smith worked on in the garage was trying to repair the tire on an old Ford wagon designed to pull behind a riding mower or small tractor. The wheel, tire and tools were still laid out on the work table as he left them.

Ford Wagon Left in the Garage

 So many times we have said “thank you Mr. Smith!” when we solved a problem by turning to hand tools or other equipment he left on the pegboard in the garage. His left wire, screwdrivers, clamps, metal fence poles, plywood and even a hand-operated drill saved the day when we had an unexpected job to do or the power tools ran out of juice. Based on the small hardware and electrical equipment left in the garage, we were able to discern that Mr. Smith shopped at McCoy’s on highway 290. This information came in handy when looking for matching or compatible hardware.

Mobile Home and Junk

Soon after our purchase of this 10 acres, we removed the items in the old mobile home that we wanted to keep (refrigerator we keep in the garage, some plastic dishes and a few miscelleaous items) and hired a local man to haul-off the mobile home. That occurred in September 2003 and there is still a “scar” on the ground where the mobile home sat.

Prior to the Smith’s ownership, the property changed hands frequently from the 1950s. Because this strip of land is at the bottom of the hill, a gully (we called it a creek) runs through the property and it is 2/3 heavily wooded, the property seemed to be a step-child to the surrounding ranch land. As far as we can tell, the property never had a permanent home on it and has not been used for agricultural purposes until we started running cattle on it back in February of this year.

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Deer Stand in Cedar Tree 

Instead, the property was a hunting lease for about 50 years. We see evidence of this use even today. There are trees that still have boards nailed to the trunk to use as steps to get up to a deer stand. One large juniper tree still has the remnants of the stand in its branches. There is an old metal trash can lid deep in the woods that was probably used as a feeder. It is obvious from the vegetation pattern; that portions of the property were mechanically cleared of small brush at one time and now have been choked with yaupon and juniper. The clearing was probably done to give a clear shot when game would pass through the clearing. We find old spent shot gun shells and rusting Schlitz and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans in the woods. We also discovered rotting piles of plywood and nails buried by leaves and brush that we believe were the left-overs from making deer stands.

Old Deer Stand in Oak Tree

Through the online Washington County real estate records, we can only trace ownership of the property back to the 1950s when an owner sold the 10 acres to the Veterans Land Board which then sold it to a veteran. From there the property changed hands every 3 to 5 years until the Smiths, who owned it for about 10 years.

The more recent addition to Dogwood Ranch, the 40 acres acquired in November 2009 was purchase from a local landowner. The property adjoined ours with a barbwire fence making the property line. The property, originally 160 acres, had been cattle ranch land at least since the 1940s. The seller and her sister inherited the property and subdivided it years ago into two 80 acre tracts. The sister sold her property over 20 years ago. The seller was of German immigrant decent on both her mother and father’s side. She even referred to herself as a “stubborn Texas German.” Her family lived on the property (the part the sister inherited) and the father ranched cattle. At some point after she inherited the property, the seller moved out-of-state becoming an absentee owner and rancher. A local man, a descent cousin also of German decent, tended her cattle and property.

After we purchased to first 10 acres of Dogwood, over the years, we contacted the her several times inquiring if she was interested in selling all or part of the property but she was not interested. Much to our surprise, in October 2009 while we were on vacation at the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, she called stating that she was ready to sell. We only wanted 30 acres but she said she was going to subdivide the property into 20 acres tracts and the any purchase would be 20 acres parcels. We thought it a shame to split up such a large tract of land that way. Fearing what a new owner might do with property, we wanted enough so that we could have a buffer from what someone may do on the adjoining property we did not buy. Unfortunately, we could not afford the entire 80 acres, so we purchased 40 acres and the neighbor on the other side of that 40 (owner that bought the sister’s place 20 years ago) bought the other 40. Once we put a gate in the barbedwire fence between the 10 and 40 acre tracts, two formerly two pieces of property became one.

Gate Between the 10 and 40 Acre Tracts